I have the same issue with the op.

Freeze lasts exactly 8 mins every time.

 

Jim,

how did you manage to get rid of the problem with the internet connection?

 

PS: pls take a look here http://forum.avsim.net/topic/431806-8-minute-crash/

 

 

NOTE:  This topic was split off from another topic - http://forum.avsim.net/topic/431139-fsx-freeze/page-0 as members should start a new thread for their particular issue and not tag on with other topic starters.  It makes it confusing to determine who's problem is what when you have several posting in the same topic.

Edited February 15, 201412 yr by firehawk44

I have the same issue with the op.

Freeze lasts exactly 8 mins every time.

 

Jim,

how did you manage to get rid of the problem with the internet connection?

 

PS: pls take a look here http://forum.avsim.net/topic/431806-8-minute-crash/

I returned the firewall back to the default.  There are a lot of things I have done recently and, if I can find some free time I'll list those actions.  It appears my problems are gone but then I have also uninstalled ASN, removed the fsuipc module, and disabled almost all modules in the dll.xml (except for PMDG and FSDT).  I had to rebuild my fsx.cfg too.  This is all part of investigating the problem because there is no magic bullet for most freezes or CTD's.  Most thought putting that uiautomationcore.dll in their main fsx folder was the holy grail of fixes and now people are finding removing it from the main fsx folder fixes their crashes/freezes.  Tweaks and loaded modules are the two most volatile processes for FSX.  Many are just not interacting with FSX properly and we need to investigate the freezes/CTD's to see what is causing these issues.  Just go back into time a bit and look at what happened when you first installed FSX.  It ran fast, had high FPS, and ran properly.  Then you decided to add scenery or a mesh program, a weather program, and other things and fps started crashing yet FSX still ran well.  Adding more AI or commercial aircraft, airports, and tweaking your fsx.cfg and things started freezing up or crashing.  You have to find out what was it that did this to your system.  A tweak?  An airport commercial scenery? The weather program?  So I have found the easiest way to investigate is to disable all modules in the dll.xml, run fsx and see if the problem still occurs and, if not, then you can probably be certain it was one of the modules causing the problem.  The same thing goes with your 8-minute crash.  If you disable all of your addon scenery and disable all of your modules in the dll.xml, does the 8-minute crash still occur?  If it does, then you need to rebuild the Fsx.cfg so there are no tweaks.  No crash?  Most likely something wrong with the Fsx.cfg.  Of course it could be something external to FSX too, like a bad overclock, overheating, or even an anti-virus program causing conflicts. 

 

One of the things I did to my system was to download this freeware utility called Windows Repair from www.tweaking.com.  This software was developed by a bunch of techies and the program basically fixes your firewall, your windows installation, your system registry (not a cleaner).  This program did not completely fix my problems but it made it easier for me to repair my FSX (I had my fsx.cfg rebuilt and now all problems appear gone).  Hopefully you can get your issues worked out too.

 

If you need more info/assistance, let me know.

 

Best regards,

I have tried most of the recommended steps to no avail.

I was hoping that since this 8 min freeze is so characteristic and repeatable, someone could pinpoint the culprit. As posted already in another thread, WhoIsCrashed did not provide any insight for me.

 

I guess I will have to run yet another series of investigation.

 

 

I guess I will have to run yet another series of investigation.

 

I have been working this forum for several years and have never heard of this 8-minute crash.  Not to say it has never happened but I do not recall it.  Again, it should not take long to diagnose.  Rebuilding your fsx.cfg should be the first diagnostic, then disabling all of your addon scenery, then your modules in the dll.xml.  If you are still getting an 8-minute crash after that, then it is most likely your overclock (if applicable) or bad memory configuration.

 

Best regards,

I tried everything recommended by Jim and others about the 8 min freeze, but after a series of trouble-free flights, it reappeared.

 

In the attached file I have copied the reports from WhatIsHang and WinCrashReport. At the very end is the list of the handles that ProcessExplorer reported relevant to the thread that hanged.

Can anyone knowlegeable  (hi Jim :ph34r:) please take a look in this file in case there is something to be found?

 

 

I resolved my freezes/lockups/CTD's involving NTDLL.dll and StackHash (appears those are the processes involved in your crash where fsx crashed at memory address 398E0000).  I disabled MyTrafficX5.4c.  Your report states the following:  "Exception Description: Access Violation - Failed to access 398E0000 memory address (User-mode data execution prevention violation)".  There are a lot of so-called solutions on the Internet for StackHash crashes.... disable data execution prevention (DEP).  Well, you cannot manually change it but there are programs on the Internet that will go into Command mode and change it for you.  Uh, I tried that.  Does not work.  It did not stop my FSX crashes so I turned DEP (a Windows security feature) back on.  So don't waste your time.  I already did it for you.  There is a post somewhere in this forum that says turning off DEP exactly as how I just explained it, fixed his memory access violations.  He was so joyful he had found the holy grail of all FSX fixes.  Well, it doesn't work and what happened to him was like what I call a placebo.  As I recall, he admitted somewhere in another forum that the fix did not work.

 

If you have an AI program, especially MyTrafficX 5.4c, disable it in the Scenery Library.  I have had four successful flights so far since doing that.  There was some talk in the MyTrafficX forum that 5.4c was definitely causing ntdll.dll crashes as everyone who had that program installed were getting ntdll.dll and StackHash crashes.  They disable it and the crashes went away.  You'll see the thread in the MyTrafficX forum.  The developer says it is not his software causing this problem but he did issue some sort of a fix. How did I discover it was MyTrafficX causing my problems?  During several flights from Chicago to St Louis over MegaScenery Earth V2 Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Iowa, in my PMDG 737NGX, and using ProATC and ASN, I ran Process Monitor for the entire flights (you can download Process Monitor from the Internet).  Don't try it for a very long flight as it collects tons of data every millisecond and shows you everything that loaded during the flight.  During the flight I had a StackHash and immediately wrote down the time it happened.  After shutting down FSX, I immediately did a Ctrl+E which captures everything that was happening since I turned it on.  Before using Process Monitor though, you have to filter it to the Application FSX.exe.  This is simple, just startup FSX, open up Process Monitor, click on Filter tab, then Filter, then select Process Name is (then select FSX.exe) then click on okay.  Just FSX events will load throughout the flight and show things down to the millisecond. 

 

Okay, the events have been captured so now I can scroll through all of the entries.  I went to the time I saw on my clock for when the crash occurred.  What was being loaded?  Well, mainly all of the aisounds, ai, and schedules.  Some MegaScenery was being loaded too but I knew that did not cause the problem.  That's all I could do because just in that one minute where the crash was recorded is tons and tons of data.  For your "8-minute crash" this might be an excellent tool to try and narrow down the culprit.  It's not going to show exactly what FSX file caused the crash unless you want to spend hours going through the millions of events in that minute but it gives you an idea.  That's all.

 

Okay, I also made sure my overclock settings were correct.  I found my ASUS bios somehow changed my core values parameters for each core to 42 for one core, 44 for another core, 43 for another core, etc.  Changed those back to 42 for all of them (for an overclock to 4.2GHz).  I checked the frequency, timings, and voltage for my memory.  All were correctly set.  If you do not use the XMP profile for your overclocks, then that is most likely YOUR issue.  It optimizes your memory the best for any computer.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

Hi Jim,

 

thanks for the detailed reply.

I do not use TrafficX (or any other traffic addon). Furthermore I run the sim with all but the basic entries commented in dll.xml.

I have also revisited my overclock (in a much older rig than yours though). Although it was double checked through the usual tools and for long times, I stepped back. This gave me several freeze free flights, until it happened again.

I do have ProcessMonitor, but I seldom use it for the reasons you mention. I will give it another try though.

Nothing seems to fix these 8-minute freezes. I tried dozens of things and this still happens:

 

Changed RAM (2133 for 1600), removed overclock, changed display monitor, changed my GTX780 for another, changed to a GTX650 Ti, changed motherboard and CPU (this as part of a system upgrade), changed cable connection from DVI1 to DVI2, changed drivers to the first ones that support GTX780, performed all windows updates, rebuilt fsx.cfg, removed all dll.xml entries, installed windows 8.1, reverted textures back to default... And many many more things.

 

All this was done in over a month's time and each setting was tested alone obviously. I eventually gave up and put back my Win7 SSD image from before all these tests. Nothing, NOTHING resolved the 8-minute freeze.

 

I performed several flights with a nearly stock FSX and just PMDG's 747 and the freeze didn't happen. I started adding a few addon scenery, still no freezes. But then all of a sudden there it is, it froze again. I lost my patience because debugging this requires dozens of hours airborne for each setting that i change since it's completely random and happens for the exact same time of ~8 minutes.

 

Weirdest stuff ever.

 

 

I started adding a few addon scenery, still no freezes. But then all of a sudden there it is, it froze again.

 

So there is your solution.  A scenery.  Just disable them in the Scenery Library and reenable one by one until you see the freezes.  Scenery textures can sometimes load with your fsx settings set to the max without any problems.  But there are a lot of buggy scenery out there that cause problems and totally wipes out resources and fps.  If buggy scenery does not work on your system, remove it no matter how nice it looks.  It is not compatible with your system setup. 

 

 

 

I do not use TrafficX (or any other traffic addon). Furthermore I run the sim with all but the basic entries commented in dll.xml.

 

You see, this is the problem.  I know you are frustrated and want an immediate solution to your problem but I (and others) have to sit here and try to guess what you have installed, whether or not you have tweaks in your fsx.cfg, whether your dll.xml is corrupted or not, etc.  The crash report you provided indicates you had a StackHash and/or ntdll.dll crash, freeze, or lockup at memory address 398E.  For me this was caused by a bad texture found in MyTrafficX (which you don't own).

 

How about posting a AppCrashView report - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/app_crash_view.html.  Copy and paste the latest crash report here.

 

Best regards,

So there is your solution.  A scenery.

 

If only it was that simple... Testing a scenery alone takes ~10 hours airborne because the freeze is very very random and might not even appear after 10h (or it might appear right on takeoff).

 

Do the math for 300 scenery addons and we have 3000 hours. I'll try i guess, because that might be the only way.

Jim,

 

I don't have any AppCrashView report, since it logs only crashes, which is not (is only a long freeze of 8 min) leaving no traces in Event Viewer or AppCrashView.

 

I can only log it with WinCrashReport and WhatIs Hang (and of course SysInternals tools).

I tried several things, following the recommendations here (and elsewhere).

All things in Vargveum post checked, but with no luck.

DEP was ever at "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only".

fsx.cfg rebuilt, dll.xml plain vanilla, sceneries inactive, overclock totally reverted (back to std clocks)...still no luck.

 

I attach again the reports from WhatIsHang and WinCrashReport, if Jim has still the energy to have yet another look, in case something emerges.

Note: WinCrashReport contained 7 events (for fsx.exe). The report contains only the three first due to size limitations.

 

Can other fellow simmers with the same problem please check the version of their fsx.exe?

Mine is 10.0.61637 (which I believe is FSX Acceleration), although I have FSX Deluxe updated to sp2 (via the downloadable updates).

 

 

 

WhatIsHang.txt

 

 

attach again the reports from WhatIsHang and WinCrashReport, if Jim has still the energy to have yet another look, in case something emerges.

Note: WinCrashReport contained 7 events (for fsx.exe). The report contains only the three first due to size limitations.

 

The WhatisHang report is interesting.  It actually displays a crash report at the bottom.  You must have crash reporting turned off.  You can check for sure by clicking on the White flag on the lower right corner of your desktop and clicking on Action Center.  Check for solutions should be on.

 

So, when FSX froze up, what was being called by your system?  Well, the report states the following were found in the Stack:

 

Kernelbase.dll

API.dll

Terrain.dll

 

Clues.  The fsx api.dll manages the management and running of fsx.  CTD's are most common with a bad cfg or weather (wx) files in your My Documents/FSX folder.  I would remove all of the wx files.  There's a logbook in there too that sometimes gets corrupted.  In the AVSIM Library, there's a program (FS Logbook Recovery) that will look for any problems and fix them.

 

The terrain.dll is related to scenery textures.  So maybe a corrupted texture.

 

The kernelbase.dll is a system dll. 

 

The report did not say that any of those files specifically caused your crash, it just says they were involved in the memory Stack (when it froze).

 

It's difficult for me to understand why you cannot pinpoint this crash by disabling all scenery in the Scenery Library (down to Addon scenery).

 

I have run out of ideas.  Did you try a System Restore?

 

Best regards,

Forgot to mention that i did had all scenery disabled (except UTX which i have tested in an earlier test with no success).

I'll try also the latest recommendations and report back.

 

 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Well, *APPARENTLY* in my case (i'm still testing), i had to go with the following:

 

[bufferPools]

PoolSize=8388608

RejectThreshold=131072

UsePools=1

 

[JOBSCHEDULER]

AffinityMask=84

 

Instead of only:

 

[bufferPools]

UsePools=0

 

This obviously reduces performance and cuts the legs of the CPU, but i had to do it and the freezes are gone (as i said under testing, but so far so good over 10h airborne with no freezing). Surprisingly i can still maintain good performance although not as good as i previosuly had, but i rather fly with good performance and no freezing than with sublime performance and random 8 minute freezes due to driver/buffer/whatever stalls.

 

I'll report back in a few days with more news regarding this.